Voice mail server, mobile station and method for voice mail message transmission

ABSTRACT

Within a cellular network, an incoming voice mail message is received at a voice mail server ( 20 ), adapted into a format suitable for transmission by a network connection which does not meet a delay requirement for delay sensitive information, dispatched to a mobile station ( 30 ), and received, readapted and stored thereat within a storing means ( 35 ). Adaptation, transmission, reception and readaptation conform to standards such as the GPRS and the UMTS. The voice mail message is dispatched directly to the mobile station ( 30 ) via an IP address or an ISDN address thereof. In this manner, instead of dispatching a message via the SMS, the sending of an adapted voice mail message directly to a mobile station ( 30 ) and storing it thereat makes it possible to avoid that a user has to poll a service center by calling in order to have the message delivered.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/751,036, entitled, “VOICE MAIL SERVER, MOBILE STATION ANDMETHOD FOR VOICE MAIL MESSAGE TRANSMISSION,” filed Dec. 28, 2000, whichis a continuation of PCT/EP98/04339, filed Jul. 6, 1998, also entitled,“VOICE MAIL SERVER, MOBILE STATION AND METHOD FOR VOICE MAIL MESSAGETRANSMISSION.” The entire contents of both applications are incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to transmission and reception of voicemail messages in a cellular network, and in particular concerns a voicemail server and a mobile station capable of handling segmented voicemail messages, and a method for carrying out the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) hasgrown rapidly all over the world. Along with the development of the GSMand the integration of mobile stations (MS) such as mobile phones anddata communications, a plurality of additional services have beenimplemented.

Among theses services are data services such as the Short MessageService (SMS), which is a bi-directional service in the GSM for shortalphanumeric messages, or a service providing access to the Internetusing a mobile station.

In case of the SMS, it is possible to deliver a message to the mobilestation even during an established call, or to deliver a message using aso-called store-and-forward service, in which the message is stored inthe network, if the mobile station is unavailable, and forwarded shortlyafter the mobile station can be reached again. As for the Internetaccess, the user can connect to the Internet via the mobile station's IPaddress and transmit or receive segmented data via the cellular networkresources.

In the traditional GSM, data services are based on circuit switchedtechnology providing a maximum user rate of 9.6 Kbit/s for transparentand non-transparent bearer services for data communication. Along withan increasing data volume, demand for higher user rates has arisen, sothat the GSM has been developed to include, as an extension, for examplethe General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) as a packet switched dataservice.

Packet switching in particular provides advantages over the traditionalcircuit switching technology in that it only exploits network resourcesand valuable bandwidth when data is actually being transmitted. Evenshort gaps between data transmissions leave the network available forother users. On this basis, the GPRS can provide for extremely efficientradio resource utilization with user rates of above 100 Kbit/s.

Even higher user data rates of up to 2 Mbit/s are expected to becomeavailable with the future Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS).

Messages deliverable within the aforementioned data services andnetworks also include a range of mail type messages such as electronicmail messages and voice mail messages.

FIG. 2 schematically shows the principle of delivering a voice mailmessage in the prior art using the traditional GSM.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a conventional cellular networksuch as the GSM. Reference numeral 2 denotes a voice mail server withinthe GSM 1. The voice mail server 2 is provided with a storage means 3for storing an incoming voice mail message. A dashed line indicates aGSM air connection for exchanging information with a mobile station 4 atthe user side.

As shown in FIG. 2, an incoming voice mail message is in the traditionalGSM first of all stored in the storage means 3 of the voice mail server2. The voice mail server 2 then sends an SMS notification to the mobilestation 4 so as to alert the user of the stored voice mail message. Inorder to listen to the message, the user is then required to call thevoice mail server 2 from his mobile station 4, which in response thendispatches the stored message.

In the GPRS, the user can activate either the voice service or thepacket data service, or can activate both of them simultaneously.However, a mobile station having a simple construction may due torestrictions for reasons of e.g. simplicity in the mobile stationimplementation and signaling not be capable of following both servicessimultaneously, so that in this case the user must terminate or suspendthe packet data service in order to become able to call the voice mailserver and to listen to an arrived voice mail message.

In any case, the user is thus required to observe whether or not a voicemail message is to be retrieved, and then call back the voice mailserver to have the message delivered. Inherent to this are drawbackssuch as the cost for establishing the connection to the voice mailserver each time a voice mail message is indicated at the mobilestation, and the operations the user must perform anew each time inorder to access the message.

In addition, the voice mail transmission as such has shown to be largelydelay insensitive. Up to now, low delay transmission methods are howeverused in vain when the user is required to listen to a voice mail messagestored at the voice mail server in real time.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a voicemail server for delivering a voice mail message, a mobile station forreceiving a voice mail message, and a corresponding method therefor,which allow to automatically dispatch a voice mail message via aconnection not necessarily meeting the quality required to transferspeech in real time and, thus, eliminate the need to poll a voice mailserver by calling.

This object is achieved by a voice mail server for a cellular network,comprising a receiving means for receiving an incoming voice mailmessage, an adapting means for adapting the voice mail message into aformat suitable for transmission by a network channel which does notmeet a delay requirement for delay sensitive information, and atransmission means for dispatching the adapted voice mail message to amobile station.

The connection used therefor could be a packet channel not guaranteeingthe delay of transmission, a low speed channel too slow to transferspeech in real time or any other channel. In particular, in the case ofa packet channel, segmentation of the voice mail message would berequired as said adaptation.

Furthermore, the said object is achieved by a mobile station for acellular network, comprising a receiving means for receiving an adaptedvoice mail message, a readapting means for readapting the receivedmessage into a reproducible format, and a reproduction means forreproducing the voice mail message.

In addition, the said object is achieved by a method for dispatching avoice mail message in a cellular network, comprising the steps of:receiving an incoming voice mail message at a voice mail server of saidcellular network, adapting the received voice mail message into a formatsuitable for transmission by a network connection which does not meet adelay requirement for delay sensitive information, dispatching theadapted voice mail to a mobile station, receiving the dispatched voicemail message at the mobile station, and readapting the received voicemail message into a reproducible format.

With the above configurations, it is possible to deliver a voice mailmessage via a network connection which does not meet the delayrequirement for delay sensitive information within a cellular networkdirectly to a mobile station, so that the user can receive the voicemail message automatically and, thus, is no longer required to poll thevoice mail server for messages by calling.

In particular, the adapting means preferably includes a packetisingmeans for packetising the compressed voice mail message into datapackets suitable for packet-switched transmission.

Advantageously, the voice mail message is adapted and transmittedconforming to GPRS and/or UMTS standards, so that it is possible totransmit a voice mail message even with low quality of service and atthe same time use network resources effectively.

By preferably dispatching the voice mail message to an IP address and/oran ISDN address of said mobile station, the reception thereof ispossible either if the user has activated the corresponding address orif he is GPRS attached and the network uses network requested contextactivation.

If the mobile station is unable to receive the message, the voice mailmessage is preferably redispatched in a predefined manner, for examplerepeatedly on a regular or configurable basis for a predetermined periodof time, or may be queued into a store-and-forward service, whereafterthe mobile station is informed of the stored message when it can bereached again.

Preferably, the stored message is then dispatched when the mobilestation becomes reachable, or when the mobile station asks for messagesor for a certain message.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the voicemail message is stored in a storage means of the mobile station adaptedto store a plurality of voice mail messages.

Advantageously, if it is found that the storage means of the mobilestation can not store all voice mail messages waiting at the voice mailserver at one time or if it is found that a voice mail message exceeds apredefined size and, thus, can not be stored completely in said storagemeans at one time, another message is sent to the mobile stationindicating that further voice mail messages or a remainder of said largevoice mail message are still waiting to be dispatched.

In case of plural messages waiting at the voice mail server, a list of aplurality of stored messages can be dispatched to the mobile station.

In case that a voice mail message is not dispatchable within apredetermined period of time, another message indicating the same can betransmitted to the mobile station. In this case, the user couldthereafter query the voice mail server, or have the voice mail serverqueried automatically by the mobile station.

Further preferably, the mobile station also includes an adapting meansfor adapting a voice mail message into a format suitable fortransmission by a network channel which does not meet a delayrequirement for delay sensitive information, and a transmission meansfor dispatching the adapted voice mail message.

In a further preferred embodiment, the reproduction means at the mobilestation also includes a display means for displaying an image or videoportion attached to the voice mail message.

Additional embodiments of the present invention are subject of furtherdependent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be described in greater detail byway of a preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement and a principle for deliveringa voice mail message according to an embodiment of the present inventionincluding a voice mail server and a mobile station in a cellularnetwork; and

FIG. 2 schematically shows the principle of delivering a voice mailmessage in the prior art.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement and a principle for deliveringa voice mail message according to an embodiment of the present inventionincluding a voice mail server and a mobile station in a cellularnetwork.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a cellular network which may,for example, be a GSM cellular network including GPRS extensions, or afuture UMTS network.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a voice mail server as a device formingpart of the cellular network 10. A receiving means 22 is located at aninput section of the voice mail server 20 for receiving an incomingvoice mail message. The receiving means 22 delivers the received voicemail message to a compressing means 24 for compressing the message. Itshould be noted that the compression employed in the voice mail server20 is not necessarily a GSM coded one, but may be based on any algorithmconforming to the network standards used and being suitable to compressthe voice mail message to proper size. The compressing means 24 isfollowed by an adapting means 26 for adapting or segmenting,respectively, the compressed message into data portions corresponding tothe requirements of the transmission channel used. In a practicalarrangement, the adapting means 26 may include a packetising means forpacketising (by segmentation) the compressed voice mail message intodata packets suitable for packet-switched transmission. The packetisingmeans may be located inside or outside the voice mail server 20. Thecompressing means 24 and the adapting means 26 may include analogcircuitry, digital circuitry or a combination thereof. The adaptingmeans 26 furnishes the generated adapted data to a transmission means 28which outputs the adapted data to the outside of the voice mail server20.

A dashed line in FIG. 1 indicates an interface to a public data networkor a GSM air connection for exchanging information including the voicemail message dispatched by the voice mail server 20 with a mobilestation 30 of a user.

The mobile station 30 includes a receiving means 32 for receiving theadapted voice mail message sent from the voice mail server 20, areadapting means 34 for readapting or reassembling the received voicemail message into a reproducible format, and a storage means 35 forstoring the readapted voice mail message. The storage means 35 ispreferably an erasable, rewritable memory having a capacity which islarge enough to store one or more voice mail messages. A receivedcompressed voice mail message can be stored in uncompressed orcompressed format, in which cases a decompression is carried out at thetime of writing the message into the memory or at the time of readingout the message therefrom, respectively. The storage means 35 is in asuitable manner also connected to user operable keys (not shown) and areproduction/recording means 36, which comprises a display and/or aspeaker, for processing, displaying and/or playing the received messageat the mobile station 30.

Furthermore, the mobile station 30 also includes a configuring means 37for setting a set of options available at the mobile station for datatransmission control. These options substantially include a setting forthe manner in which the user is alerted of a message, i.e. whether theuser is required to poll the server, whether an alert is pushed to themobile station 30 or whether the voice mail is pushed to the mobilestation 30, a setting specifying what to transmit, including for examplethe maximum number of messages and the maximum transmission speed (KB),and a setting relating to the processing of a memory full condition. Thevoice mail server and/or the public data network server arecorrespondingly informed of the setting of these options upon attachingto the cellular network or activating the IP address or subscription.The configuring means 37 is of course not limited to the aforementionedoptions, but may include any options useful for controlling thereception and transmission of voice mail messages.

According to FIG. 1, an incoming voice mail message reaching the voicemail server 20 is received by the receiving means 22, compressed by thecompressing means 24, adapted into segment data by the adapting means 26and then delivered automatically and directly to the addressed mobilestation 30 by sending it to the fixed IP address or an ISDN addressthereof via a public data network or the GPRS.

If the user is reachable, an SMS or GPRS message or packet is sent tothe mobile station 30 in order to alert the user of the received voicemail message. In case of plural messages, the sent alert may furtherinclude a list of messages from which the user can take preliminaryinformation regarding, for example, the sender and the contents, orselect one or a plurality of messages to be queried from the serverprior to others.

When the user has activated the fixed IP address or is GPRS attached andthe network uses network requested context activation, the voice mailmessage is automatically received at the mobile station 30 and, afterreadaptation, stored in the storage means 35. The user can then read outthe message from the storage means 35 and listen to the same at anytime.

In case that the mobile station 30 is unable to receive the message, forexample because the user is out of range, the voice mail server 20 triesin a predefined manner, which may include repeated attempts on a regularor configurable basis for a predetermined period of time, for exampleduring a week or any other arbitrary time period, to deliver the voicemail message to the mobile station 30, or send a short message via theSMS to indicate the delivery of a voice mail message.

Alternatively, a store-and-forward service is implemented on top of theGPRS which then allows to queue an at present undeliverable message andto deliver the message to the mobile station 30 directly when the mobilestation 30 becomes reachable again, for example when the mobile station30 attaches and becomes standby, or when the mobile station 30 asks formessages or for a certain message. Such a store and forward mechanismcould also employ an improved short message service allowing thetransfer of a larger segment, which is sometimes also referred to asadvanced SMS.

In particular, even if the storage means 35 of the mobile station 30 hasa capacity which is large enough for storing a plurality of voice mailmessages, there may be a case in which the number of messages waiting atthe voice mail server 20 is too large to fit into the storage means 35at one time, in which the number of messages configured at the mobilestation 30 is smaller than the number of messages actually waiting, orin which a single message is larger than a predefined size (maximumbuffer capacity of the mobile station 30). In this case, another messageis transmitted to the mobile station indicating that further voice mailmessages or a remainder of said larger voice mail message are stillwaiting to be dispatched. The latter handling is in particular alsoadvantageous in cases in which an image or a video portion is attachedto the voice mail message, which then can be dispatched and displayedstepwise corresponding to the capacity of the storage means 35 of themobile station 30.

In a modification, the mobile station 30 is additionally capable ofsending voice mail messages. Similar to the voice mail server 20, themobile station 30 therefor further includes an adapting means 38 and atransmission means 39, which operate in a manner similar to those of thevoice mail server 20 and provide for the sending of a voice mail messagefrom the mobile station 30 via the aforementioned GSM air connection orpublic data network to an IP or ISDN address of another mobile stationor network constituent.

In order to record a voice mail message at the mobile station 30, thereproduction/recording means 36 further includes a microphone. Therecorded message is preferably stored in the storage means 35 beforebeing processed for transmission. In this manner, it is possible toprepare a plurality of voice mail messages beforehand, i.e. off-line,and to dispatch them when the mobile station 30 becomes attached again,or to reply to a received voice mail message by combining the replymessage and the received message as a reference.

The illustrated principles show remarkable benefits in cellular networksbeing capable of high capacity cellular transmission and are, thus, inparticular also applicable to the future UMTS.

In view of the delay insensitive voice mail transmission, which resultin that low delay transmission methods are up to now used in vain whenthe user is required to listen to a voice mail message stored at thevoice mail server in real time, the above-described principles thereforealso provide for a transmission method which uses available resourceseffectively at the cost of tolerably low delays. As such transmissionmethod, packet data transmission, efficient compression and circuitswitched transmission or efficient compression and packet switchedtransmission may for example be used.

In particular with high capacity cellular networks such as the GPRS orthe UMTS, which offer a connection to standard data networks likeTCP/IP, X.25 networks for mobile users using a packet switchedconnection, the most optimum resource utilization is obtained by using adynamic sharing method between circuit switched and GPRS channels.

Routing is advantageously performed by a mobility router which providesfor the connection to and interworking with various data networks, themobility management with the GPRS system and the delivery of datapackets to a mobile station independent of its location.

It is to be noted that voice mail messages as understood herein includeany kind of messages which, when they are displayed, require a certainquality of service (low delay for voice), such as messages dispatchedduring e.g. browsing the Internet or the World Wide Web, respectively,or messages dispatched within road traffic information systems, traincontrol systems, telemetrics and taxi booking and management systems.They may even include image or video portions attached to voice data at,for example, Internet terminals or company headquarters.

Thus, as has been described above, within a cellular network, anincoming voice mail message is received at a voice mail server, adaptedinto a format suitable for transmission by a network channel which doesnot meet a delay requirement for delay sensitive information, dispatchedto a mobile station, and received, readapted and stored thereat within astoring means. Adaptation, transmission, reception and readaptationconform to standards such as the GPRS and the UMTS. The voice mailmessage is dispatched directly to the mobile station via an IP addressor an ISDN address thereof.

In this manner, instead of dispatching a message via the SMS, thesending of an adapted voice mail message directly to a mobile stationand storing it thereat makes it possible to avoid that a user has topoll a service center by calling in order to have the message delivered.

It should be understood that the above description and accompanyingfigures are only intended to illustrate the present invention. Thus, thestructures according to the present invention may also be used withinarrangements other than that referred to in the described example. Thepreferred embodiment of the invention may also vary within the scope ofthe attached claims.

1-32. (canceled)
 33. Mobile station for a cellular network, comprising:a receiving means for receiving an adapted voice mail message, whereinthe adapted voice message is packetised into data packets suitable forpacket-switched transmission, a readapting means for readapting thereceived message into a reproducible format, and a reproduction meansfor reproducing the received voice mail message.
 34. Mobile stationaccording to claim 33, further comprising a storage means configured tostore a plurality of voice mail messages.
 35. Mobile station accordingto claim 33, wherein said reproduction means comprises a speaker. 36.Mobile station according to claim 33, wherein said reproduction meansincludes a display means for displaying an image or video portionincluded in said voice mail message.
 37. Mobile station according to oneof claim 33, wherein said mobile station is configured to receive andreadapt the voice mail message conforming to general packet radioservice or universal mobile telecommunications system standards. 38.Mobile station according to claim 33, wherein said mobile stationfurther includes an adapting means for adapting a voice mail messageinto a format suitable for transmission by a network channel which doesnot meet a delay requirement for delay sensitive information, theadapting means comprising a packetising means for packetising the voicemail message into data packets suitable for packet switchedtransmission, and a transmission means for dispatching the adapted voicemail message to a voice mail server.
 39. Mobile station according toclaim 38, wherein the mobile station is configured to adapt and transmitthe voice mail message conforming to general packet radio service oruniversal mobile telecommunications system standards.
 40. Method fordispatching a voice mail message in a cellular network, comprising thesteps of: receiving an incoming voice mail message at a voice mailserver of said cellular network, adapting the received voice mailmessage into a format suitable for transmission by a network channelwhich does not meet a delay requirement for delay sensitive information,dispatching the adapted voice mail message to a mobile station,receiving the dispatched voice mail message at the mobile station, andreadapting the received voice mail message into a reproducible format;wherein the adapting step includes packetising the voice mail messageinto data packets suitable for packet-switched transmission.
 41. Methodaccording to claim 40, further comprising the step of storing thereceived voice mail message in a storage means of the mobile station.42. Method according to claim 40, wherein the adapting step, thedispatching step, the receiving step and the readapting step are carriedout conforming to general packet radio service or universal mobiletelecommunications system standards.
 43. Method according to claim 40,wherein the voice mail message is dispatched to an internet protocol orintegrated services data network address of said mobile station. 44.Method according to claim 40, wherein the voice mail message isredispatched in a predefined manner if the addressed mobile station isunable to receive the message, said predefined manner including arepeated redispatchment on a regular or configurable basis for apredetermined period of time.
 45. Method according to claim 40, whereinthe voice mail message is queued into a store-and-forward service, ifthe addressed mobile station is unable to receive the message, and themobile station is informed of the stored message when the mobile stationbecomes reachable again.
 46. according to claim 40, wherein the voicemail message is queued into a store-and-forward service, if theaddressed mobile station is unable to receive the message, anddispatched to the mobile station when the mobile station becomesreachable again.
 47. Method according to claim 40, wherein the storedmessage is dispatched when the mobile station asks for messages or for acertain message.
 48. Method according to claim 41, wherein, if thestorage means of the mobile station can not store all voice mailmessages waiting at the voice mail server at one time or if the voicemail message exceeds a predefined size, another message is dispatched tothe mobile station indicating that further voice mail messages or aremainder of said large voice mail message are still waiting to bedispatched.
 49. Method according to claim 40, wherein a list of aplurality of stored messages is dispatched to the mobile station. 50.Method according to claim 40, wherein another message is transmitted tothe mobile station if the voice mail message is not dispatchable withina predetermined period of time.
 51. Voice mail system for dispatching avoice mail message in a cellular network by receiving an incoming voicemail message at a voice mail server of said cellular network, adaptingthe received voice mail message into a format suitable for transmissionby a network channel which does not meet a delay requirement for delaysensitive information, dispatching the adapted voice mail message to amobile station, receiving the dispatched voice mail message at themobile station, and readapting the received voice mail message into areproducible format; wherein the adapting step includes packetising thevoice mail message into data packets suitable for packet-switchedtransmission, the voice mail system comprising: a receiving means forreceiving an adapted voice mail message, wherein the adapted voicemessage is packetised into data packets suitable for packet-switchedtransmission, a readapting means for readapting the received messageinto a reproducible format, and a reproduction means for reproducing thereceived voice mail message.
 52. Mobile station for a cellular network,comprising: a receiving means for receiving an adapted voice mailmessage, an adapting means for adapting a voice mail message into aformat suitable for transmission by a network channel which does notmeet a delay requirement for delay sensitive information, and atransmission means for dispatching the adapted voice mail message toanother mobile station, a readapting means for readapting the receivedmessage into a reproducible format, and a reproduction means forreproducing the stored voice mail message, wherein said adapting meansincludes, a packetising means for packetising the voice mail messageinto data packets suitable for packet-switched transmission.
 53. Mobilestation according to claim 52, further comprising a storage meansconfigured to store a plurality of voice mail messages.
 54. Mobilestation according to claim 52, wherein said reproduction means comprisesa speaker.
 55. Mobile station according to claim 52, wherein saidreproduction means includes a display means for displaying an image orvideo portion included in said voice mail message.
 56. Mobile stationaccording to claim 52, wherein said mobile station is configured toreceive and readapt the voice mail message conforming to general packetradio service or universal mobile telecommunications system standards.57. Mobile station according to claim 52, wherein the mobile station isconfigured to adapt and transmit the voice mail message conforming togeneral packet radio service or universal mobile telecommunicationssystem standards.
 58. Method for dispatching a voice mail message in acellular network, comprising the steps of: adapting, within a mobilestation, a voice mail message into a format suitable for transmission bya network channel which does not meet a delay requirement for delaysensitive information, dispatching the adapted voice mail message toanother mobile station, receiving the adapted voice mail message by saidother mobile station; readapting the received message into areproducible format in said other mobile station, and reproducing thestored voice mail message, wherein said adapting step includes a stepfor packetising the voice mail message into data packets suitable forpacket-switched transmission.
 59. Method according to claim 58, furthercomprising a step of storing a plurality of voice mail messages. 60.Method according to claim 58, wherein said reproduction step comprises astep of displaying an image or video portion included in said voice mailmessage.
 61. Method according to claim 58, said readapting and receivingsteps are performed conforming to general packet radio service oruniversal mobile telecommunications system standards.
 62. Methodaccording to claim 58, wherein said adapting and transmitting steps areperformed conforming to general packet radio service or universal mobiletelecommunications system standards.